by Elizabeth Hudson

Saida and Kunieda celebrate their victory at SW19 last year

Defending champions Shingo Kunieda and Satoshi Saida remain on course to retain their Wimbledon men's wheelchair doubles crown.

The Japanese duo beat Austria's Martin Legner and Dutchman Maikel Scheffers 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 in Saturday's semi-final.

They will now face Robin Ammerlaan and Ronald Vink from the Netherlands in Sunday's decider.

The Dutch duo beat Poland's Tadeusz Kruszelnicki and Miroslav Brychta of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-4.

Legner and Scheffers raced into a 3-1 lead in the opening set against Kunieda and Saida before last year's winners got into the game.

But the Japanese pair reeled off four games in a row to go 5-3 ahead and then had their first set point in the 10th game which Scheffers saved with a forehand winner.

The set went to an exciting tie-break with Legner and Scheffers earning three set points but Kunieda and Saida proved equal to the task and won five consecutive points to take the set.

Wimbledon is very special Satoshi Saida

The second set proved equally thrilling with the players sharing the first six games before Saida held serve to take a 4-3 lead.

The Japanese pair took control after that with Kunieda converting a break point in the next game with a forehand winner and the world number one then held serve in the following game to seal the win.

"That was a tough match because everyone is so closely matched," admitted Saida afterwards.

"Playing at Wimbledon is very special, although we were nervous at the start. But we know we will have to play better in the final."

Ammerlaan and Vink, who won last month's Czech Open, were always in control in their last-four encounter.

Ammerlaan, ranked two in the world in singles and three in doubles, served strongly and his neat drop shots proved crucial for the pairing.

The Dutch duo eventually built up a 5-2 lead and although Brychta held to make it 5-3 and then saved two set points in the following game, Vink sent down a forehand winner to take the set.

Ammerlaan and Vink continued to control the second set and they were soon able to close out the match.

"If we played well, we knew we could win," said Ammerlaan, who lost in last year's semi-finals when he partnered Martin Legner.

"Ronald and I haven't played against Shingo and Satoshi for two years so we are looking forward to the final."